Narrowing down my top 5 stories of 2011 has been no piece of cake. 2011 has been a busy year for the programs of General Operations, making the year fly by and giving me too many options to choose from. So, when choosing my #5 and #4 top stories of 2011, I decided to pick a milestone for our organization and a homecoming of sorts.

Kerrin's Story #5 from 2011: NRA turns 140

Birthdays are a big deal, but having the NRA turn 140 years old in 2011 is pretty incredible. In those 140 years, the NRA has grown and evolved from an organization created to improve military marksmanship to the world's leader in firearms training, shooting sports programs, and the primary defender of Americans' right to keep and bear arms.

The history of the NRA is rich with some of the same traditions we still take part in today. Instead of Long Island's Creedmoor Range or the fields of Sea Girt, New Jersey, competitors now flock to the ranges of Camp Perry on the shores of Lake Erie for the National Matches.

The focus of the NRA has also expanded from just marksmanship and competition to include many other aspects of the shooting sports. We've grown from having 200 boys competing in 1906 to reaching millions of children each year through programs designed specifically for youth.

 Women have also become an integral part of the NRA through our Women's Programs Department and programs designed by women, for women. NRA also works tirelessly to defend the rights of hunters across the country and provides programs to encourage hunting, especially among youth.

I could write a entire post about how the NRA has evolved, but for now I'll just stick to wishing the NRA a very happy 140th birthday and toasting to another 140 more.

I've said that Camp Perry is an almost a magical place. The ranges seem alive with history when you think of how many shooters walked up to the firing line and competed side by side for more than a century. That's why I was so excited for the 2011 National Junior Air Gun Championship & Training Summit to return to Camp Perry this summer. Over 230 young people traveled from as far as Hawaii, California, and Alaska to compete against the best junior air gun competitors in the country.

But this year's competition had some international flavor when a group of competitors from South Africa made the journey to Northern Ohio to compete against their American counterparts. That meant that young shooters from all over America and even the African continent would get a chance to compete on the grounds of Camp Perry and be a part of America's competitive shooting history.

Throughout the event, these young people got a chance to not only compete, but to connect with old friends and make new ones along the way. They also got a chance to leave the firing line for classroom training thanks to the Training Summit. During specialized training sessions, these young competitors learned about various topics including fitness, nutrition, how to keep a shooting journal, collegiate shooting programs and other shooting sports opportunities available to youth. But what I found most intriguing was how the American shooters connected with the young people from South Africa. From questions about competition, to culture, and even about food, the competitors from both countries bonded over their sport.